Sars serves order on Seedat wholesaler

Crime & Courts / 11 July 2014, 2:41pm

SHAIN GARMANER AND ANGELIQUE SERRAO

A man believed to be former FSB chief financial officer Dawood Seedat is seen in screengrabs receiving two enclosed boxes at a Midrand mosque. A voice in the clip says one box contains R1.5 million and the other R500 000.

Johannesburg - The SA Revenue Service (Sars) served a preservation order on Africa Cash & Carry on Thursday morning.

The general dealership was recently involved in a corruption allegation against former Financial Services Board (FSB) chief financial officer Dawood Seedat.

Africa Cash & Carry chief executive Edrees Ahmed Hathurani last month alleged that Seedat accepted R12 million from him after threatening to close down his business through a Sars investigation. Hathurani said he was fearful of what Seedat could do and he paid the money.

After the corruption allegations emerged, Seedat stepped down from the FSB.

And this morning, The Star received calls that a massive raid was taking place at the business premises in Crown Mines.

But Sars spokesman Adrian Lackay said they were not raiding anyone: “We are not confiscating anything.

“What we are doing is a procedural thing. We will be able to provide details later,” he said.

According to Africa Cash & Carry spokesman Imran Khan, a group of 15 to 20 Sars officials arrived at the wholesaler at about 8am and closed the entrance.

He said a preservation order was served on Africa Cash & Carry, with the documentation handed over to their legal representative Saleem Ebrahim.

Khan said that such a display from Sars was “bullying tactics” and that the company would be contesting the preservation order in court.

However, he said that the officials were “civil” and after a walkaround inside the wholesaler’s offices, they left before 8.30am.

By 9.15am it was business as usual at the company’s premises on Main Reef Road.

The Star understands that a preservation order is done to ensure there are enough assets to cover a tax debt.

A trial date on Africa Cash & Carry’s tax matter has been set for September.